202 THE AFRICAN SUGAR CANE. 
obtain the whole fifteen sorts of imphee that I now have; 
and I never should have acquired anything like accurate 
knowledge of the individual peculiarities and value, had 
I not cultivated them on a sufficiently large scale; 
thoroughly studied them during their growth, and ulti- 
mately made a large quantity of sugar from them. The 
seed I obtained from this cultivation, I have now in Eng- 
land with me; and it is capable, with care, of planting 
some hundreds of acres. Some plants grown in England 
this year, have already ripened their seeds, which are 
full and plump. 
I have grown it in Belgium and several other parts of 
the continent this year, and it has succeeded remark- 
ably ‘well. 
But if we look back from our own times to very 
remote ages, and search for any very authentic records 
of the imphee or Holceus saccharatus among the writings 
of ancient authors, we must confess the unsatisfactory 
result of our inquiry ; for the notices of the “sweet reed,” 
contained in their writings, have long ago been seized by 
Porter and other authors, and appropriated by them as 
forming part and parcel of the history of the sugar cane. 
But if we examine somewhat minutely into the mat- 
ter, we shall find abundant reason for believing that the 
Holcus saccharatus was frequently alluded to instead of 
the sugar cane, more especially by the Roman writers; 
thus Lucian, (Book i, page 237,) has the line— 
“ Quique bibunt tenera dulces ab arundine succos.’”’* 
which can scarcely be supposed to apply to the large, 
coarse, hard stock of the sugar cane. 
* « And those who drink sweet juices from the tender reed.’ 
